Columbus State could see another tuition hike

Wednesday

May 15, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 15, 2013 at 10:21 AM

Students attending Columbus State Community College might be hit with a second tuition increase in the fall. On Thursday, the school's board of trustees is set to discuss raising tuition and fees for the 2013-14 school year by $100, the highest amount allowed under the proposed state budget.

Encarnacion Pyle, The Columbus Dispatch

Students attending Columbus State Community College might be hit with a second tuition increase in the fall.

On Thursday, the school’s board of trustees is set to discuss raising tuition and fees for the 2013-14 school year by $100, the highest amount allowed under the proposed state budget.

The 2.6 percent increase would be on top of a $199 annual increase approved last November that goes into effect this summer. Summer classes begin Monday.

If approved, in-state tuition for the fall will go up by $3.35 per credit hour to a total of $132.60 per credit hour. For full-time students, that would equate to a $100 increase — from $3,878 this summer to $3,978 this fall.

Ohio State University did something similar when it raised tuition by 3.5 percent in the summer of 2010, the maximum allowed under state caps at the time, and by another 3.5 percent that fall, which it was allowed to do because that was part of a new school year.

The Columbus State board will vote on its tuition proposal on May 23.

Officials say the school needs the money to offer “quality academic and students-support services” because of a larger-than-expected drop in enrollment last year after the switch to semesters. Columbus State had 5,300 fewer students last fall than it did a year earlier, which forced the school to decrease its budget by $17 million.

Summer enrollment is higher than expected, but it’s unclear how things will shake out in the fall, said Terri Gehr, Columbus State’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.

The college could have raised tuition at the beginning of last school year, Gehr said, but it waited until summer to have the least impact on students. Before that, the college held tuition flat for 61/2 years — longer than all other central Ohio public schools — saving students $22 million, she said.

“We made college more affordable at a time when the community needed it most,” Columbus State spokesman Will Kopp said, adding that the school stopped raising tuition at the start of the recession in 2007. “We helped turn around the central Ohio economy, and now it’s time to reinvest in the college.”

Kopp said most students will see only a $60 increase because they don’t take a full load of classes.

Even with a $100 increase, Columbus State’s tuition will remain sixth lowest of the state’s 23 community colleges, if the other schools keep their current prices.

The school is doing what it can to cut costs, Gehr said, including selling its golf course and closing its child-care center to focus on graduating students and training workers.

The school is poised to end the fiscal year with $2.5 million in reserve money that was moved over midyear to help balance the budget. Gehr will ask trustees next week to roll that money over into the 2014 budget.

The board also is set to vote to give Columbus State President David Harrison the authority to adjust the tuition increase if the final state budget lowers or raises the tuition cap.